Eastgate, County Durham

Eastgate is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated in Weardale, a few miles west of Stanhope.

Eastgate originally marked the eastern border of the private hunting park of the Prince Bishops of Durham. This was second in extent only to the royal hunting park of the New Forest in Hampshire. Emerson Muschamp Bainbridge, the founder of the world's first department store, was born in the village.[1]

Geothermal plant

In 2004 it was announced that a hot geothermal power plant would go ahead on the site of a former cement works. The geothermal plant will heat the UK's first geothermal energy model village,[2] the official working title being Eastgate Renewable Energy Village.[3]

The exploratory geothermal borehole drilled in December 2004 was the first to be completed in the United Kingdom for over 20 years.[4] The water temperature at a depth of 995 m was found to be 46.2°C, and it was estimated that the water temperature of a production borehole with a depth of about 1800m would be in the range 75-80°C, with a volume of water similar to that already being exploited in the existing geothermal energy scheme in Southampton.[4]

Weardale Railway

The plans for the energy village include constructing a terminus for the Weardale Railway, which currently runs between Bishop Auckland and Stanhope

See also

References

  1. ↑ Anne Pimlott Baker, ‘Bainbridge, Emerson Muschamp (1817–1892)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2010 accessed 29 April 2011
  2. ↑ 'Hot rocks' found at cement plant
  3. ↑ http://www.weardale-works.co.uk/
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Manning, D.A.C.; P.L. Younger, F.W. Smith, J.M. Jones, D.J. Dufton, S. Diskin (2007). "A deep geothermal exploration well at Eastgate, Weardale, UK: a novel exploration concept for low-enthalpy resources" (abstract). Journal of the Geological Society 164 (2): 371–382. doi:10.1144/0016-76492006-015. Retrieved 2007-08-06.

External links

Media related to Eastgate, County Durham at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 54°44′N 2°04′W / 54.733°N 2.067°W